MINIBAILOUT

Obama to Offer Detroit $300M

A fraction of city’s debt.

Officials from the Obama administration are headed to Detroit today to offer $300 million in federal and private aid to help the Motor City, two months after its historic bankruptcy filing. “It’s the largest city bankruptcy in the history of our country, on our watch, and we’ve got to do something,” White House economic adviser Gene Sperling said. But, he added, “there is nothing we can do to help on the bankruptcy; there is no bailout.” The aid—a drop in the bucket for Detroit’s $18 billion worth of debt—would be divvied between rebuilding efforts with $140 million going to transit improvements and $100 million to blight efforts.